If Wishes Were Horses (episode)
Station residents suddenly find their imaginations are manifested in physical form; a spatial rift threatens to destroy the Bajoran system. Summary Quark tells Odo he needs to lighten up and have some fun, perhaps in a holosuite. Odo dismisses imagination as a sign that one is not paying attention to one's real life. Quark offers to create a Shapeshifter "playmate," at which point Odo declares, "You're disgusting!" At seeing Jake Sisko walking toward a holosuite, Odo warns that Quark had better not have created any "playmates" for him. Jake's program, Quark explains, is one that includes famous baseball players from Earth. Quark has made it his business to learn about human customs and traditions because a wise man, he says, can smell profit in the wind. He tells Odo to try it. "I don't have a sense of smell," Odo says. As Quark explains economics to Odo, on the other side of the bar, Dr. Bashir and Lieutenant Dax are having dinner. Julian wants to become romantically involved, but Jadzia politely refuses and points out that he has eyed several other women as well. She returns to Ops, where she finds there are elevated thoron emissions in the nearby Denorios belt. Dax and Sisko hypothesize that it is due to the high amount of traffic around the station. Meanwhile, O'Brien reads his daughter Molly a bedtime story—"Rumpelstiltskin"—and tucks her in. However, Molly comes back out and claims Rumpelstiltskin is in her room. O'Brien returns with her and finds that Rumpelstiltskin truly has appeared in her room. A more submissive version of Dax tries to seduce Dr. Bashir in his quarters. Buck Bokai, a famous baseball player, follows Jake home from the holosuites. The characters eventually disappear, and random events, such as snow on the Promenade, occur all over the station, seemingly from peoples' imaginations. Quark finds himself surrounded by beautiful women who are unable to resist him and hopes whatever is going on lasts forever, until he realizes every one of his customers is winning at Dabo. He desperately tries to "wish" them to lose, but as Odo points out, Quark is outnumbered. Later, Odo returns to his office and runs a security sweep, only to discover that he has wished Quark into a holding cell. The wishing spree continues until the emissions detected earlier turn into a void near the station. It continues to grow exponentially until Sisko realizes it is part of the wish effect, and as more people believe it exists, its size increases. Once the station wishes the void away, "Buck Bokai" appears in Sisko's office, where he explains that he is part of an extended mission that followed a Federation ship through the "hole in space." His people wanted to see what "imagination" is really about in an attempt to learn more about humanoids. "Bokai" departs shortly after suggesting that he and his compatriots might return "next year" to inform Sisko about his species. Log Entries *''Station log, stardate 46853.2. We have launched a probe to study the subspace anomaly. Meanwhile, more than half the people aboard DS9 have reported manifestations of their imagined thoughts.'' *''Station log, supplemental. The subspace anomaly continues to expand. As of yet, we've been unable to find a way to contain it. As a precaution, we have diverted all incoming ships away from the station.'' Memorable Quotes "Family entertainment. That's the future, Odo. There's a fortune to be made. Little Holocreatures running around. Rides and games for the kiddies, Ferengi standing in every doorway selling... useless souvenirs." "You're going to replace all of your sexual holoprograms with family entertainment?" "Oh, no! No! I'm expanding! I'm negotiating to lease the space next door so I can use the same hologenerators." "You're still disgusting." (Odo walks off) "Till the day I die." : - Quark and Odo "Why do we tell her stories about evil dwarves that want to steal children?" : - O'Brien "Julian, you are a wonderful friend." (Bashir sighs heavily) "I enjoy the time we spend together!" "Stop! You're driving a stake through my heart!" "Try a high pitched sonic shower. It'll make you feel better." "No it won't!" (Dax walks off) (to self) "I've already tried it." : - Dax and Bashir "Sorry I'm late. I was having dinner with Julian." "How is our young doctor?" "Young. Anything going on?" : - Dax and Sisko "She IS submissive, isn't she?" : - Dax, beginning to get annoyed at her double. "Let me out of here! Let me out of here! Get the Nagus on subspace, I want to talk to him and I mean now!" (He touches the forcefield holding him and gets zapped) "I'm not spending another minute in this cell!" "How did you get in there?" "How did I get in here?! You put me in here!" "Ahh. Hah! I guess I did, didn't I?" (Odo chuckles) "Yeah..." (Quark then vanishes) (Odo chuckles) "No imagination indeed. Hah!" : - Quark and Odo, as Odo watches his security cameras sees Quark in a holding cell. "Perimeter sensors are picking up a subspace oscillation. What the hell does that mean?" : - Kira Background Information *The baseball which Sisko keeps on his desk for the remainder of the series is a memento of this episode, given to him by the alien who impersonated Bokai. *Rumpelstiltskin was originally written as a Leprechaun, but was changed when Colm Meaney objected, claiming that this was an offensive stereotype against Irish people. (Star Trek: Deep Space Nine Companion) *The Gunji jackdaw which appears on the promenade was played by an emu. It is the only appearance by an emu on Star Trek. They proved to be difficult to receive direction, so one of their trainers was dressed as a Bajoran monk. (Star Trek: Deep Space Nine Companion) *Interacting with and acting like the emu brought back memories of playing a character who transformed into a bird in ''Brewster McCloud'' for Rene Auberjonois. (Star Trek: Deep Space Nine Companion) *Odo's disgust over "intermingling" with a holographic shapeshifter foreshadows his tumultuous relationship with the Great Link and, specifically, the Female Changeling. *Buck Bokai, who appears in this episode, was first mentioned (although not by name) in the Next Generation episode The Big Goodbye. Links and References Guest Stars *Rosalind Chao as Keiko O'Brien *Keone Young as Buck Bokai *Michael John Anderson as Rumpelstiltskin Co-Star *Hana Hatae as Molly O'Brien Uncredited Co-Stars *Tyana Parr as a Human DS9 resident *Randy James as Lieutenant Jones *Kevin Grevioux as a Starfleet security officer References 2042; Antipasto; Baneriam hawk; Baseball; Baseball (object); concussion; exothermic reaction; Joe DiMaggio; Great Link; ground ball; Hanoli system; Impulse sustainer; Japan; Larosian virus; London Kings; London; Eddie Newsome; Class-4 probe; proton; pulse wave; pulse wave initiator; pulse wave torpedo; Sonic shower; Tris Speaker; Stadius; Subspace disruption; Subspace oscillation; Tartaran landscape; Ted Williams; thoron emission; World Series |next= }} Category:DS9 episodes de:Macht der Phantasie es:If Wishes Were Horses nl:If Wishes Were Horses